Upside-Down Universe
by Neko-The-Wolf
Summary: What happens when the countries meet their alter-egos? M for later chapter (Violence, language, possible lemons?)
1. The Start

_This is an idea I've been thinking abut for a while,so hope you enjoy! And Sorry if this first chapter is kinda slow, i promise it'll be better once they get there!_

**I Do Not Own Hetalia**

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It was a day like any other and Maddie was doing the chores around her house. She didn't wear anything fancy: a baggy, red hoodie with a white maple leaf printed on the front and slim grey sweatpants. Her hair was up in pigtails and her glasses slid down the brim of her nose as she vacuumed the nearly spotless living room floor. A Hockey game was playing on the black flat screen television behind her, and a lazy white bear sat on the black leather couch gazing at the images flickering across the screen with tired eyes. Clicking the vacuum off, she sighed, glancing at the T.V. with a slightly disappointed expression. "They're scoring way less than they usually do..." She reached for the remote on the end table, switching the channel to "Animal Planet", which was apparently playing something about Polar Bears. This seemed to perk the interest of the sleepy bear, who sat up in her seat. The young Canadian smiled, gathering the vacuum cords and wheeling the device to the closet. Closing the door, she examined the room, nodding in satisfaction to herself. "Guess that's all the cleaning for today," she said, sitting down next to her Polar bear.

Just then, the door bell rang. "I wonder who that could be?" She stood up again, walking cautiously towards the door. Weren't most of the other countries busy on the weekend? Opening the door slowly, she peeked out of the little gap the door allowed with the lock still in place. Whoever had rung the bell was facing away from the door. They were a bit shorter than Maddie with short, dark grey hair, and the only thing they wore was bathing suit shorts and flip-flops. Maddie had never seen this person. "Um...Hello?"

The visitor turned around, obviously unprepared for the voice, and when they saw each other's faces, they were both filled with shock. "I-Ivan?!" His face was still confused and shocked, but he shook it away and reached out a trembling hand. "Oh, um...H-hello Madeline. You're p-probably confused right now, aren't you?" She nodded. There was no way that this was the Russian she knew. Unlatching the lock, Maddie stepped back and allowed the smaller person to enter her home, closing the door gently behind them. She sat back down on the couch while her visitor still stood, looking around the home. "It's so...clean..." he mumbled, then shook himself out of whatever space he had been in. He sat down carefully on the couch a decent length away from Madeline and tried to calm himself down. Definitely not Ivan.

The two sat there with out saying anything for a while, the television still on "Animal Planet" and Maddie's Polar bear now in front of it, watching intently as the bears she was related to paced across the ice. "So...," Maddie finally said, "..mind...explaining what's going on?" The small man's eyes widened and he nodded his head. "Right, yes, of course! I'm so sorry for wasting your time." he paused for a moment to regain his composure, sitting up straight and looking Maddie in the eyes. He trembled a bit as he spoke. "I am here to invite you to my home." Now Maddie was really confused. "I've been to your- er, Ivan's house before. What would be so different? Why are you so different?" She stopped herself there, feeling a bit too pushy towards the newcomer, who already looked horribly terrified to be there. "Oh, right," he exclaimed to himself, looking back at Maddie. "I am from a different world; a parallel universe of your own...,' he trailed off. "..The Science Club of our world wanted to know what everyone over here was like, and I'm the messenger...So, would you consider bringing your friends there with me?"

Maddie's eyes were wide. Did she really just hear that? "Y-you're serious?" he asked. The boy nodded. "Well, I don't see why not...," she finally concluded. "Just let me call up some of the others. It may be difficult to contact them on a weekend." She stood up from the couch, Ivan jumping up as well, and they walked into the kitchen where Maddie picked up the phone. The first person she thought to call was Alfred, though it was very unlikely that he wasn't busy. She dialed her brother's number and waited nervously for an answer as it buzzed. After a few seconds, to the Canadian's surprise, he picked up. "Elyo?" It was obvious he had his mouth full of food. Maddie smiled. Typical Alfred. "Hey Al," she said," are you busy today?..." There was a pause, and the the sound of a big gulp. "BUSY!? ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!" Maddie pulled the phone away from her ear, then put it back carefully to the speaker when she thought it was safe. "Ow, Al, quiet down," she mumbled. He just laughed. "Sorry, Mad! I'm just soooooooooo bored! I would KILL to do anything right now, even with you!...Er, no offense," he added. She sighed. "It's alright, I know you didn't mean it like that. But before you come over, mind calling a few more people to come over too?" She heard his loud, obnoxious laugh again and smiled slightly. "Sure, no problem! See you in an hour, Mad!" Then the call went dead.

Hanging up the phone, Maddie turned around to face little Ivan. "Al said he'll be here in an hour. Guess we'll wait for anyone else 'till then." The two went back out to the living room and watched T.V. until they heard a knock at the door. Maddie jumped up and opened the door, stepping back so that Alfred wouldn't run into her as he darted inside. Instead, the American ran straight into 'little Ivan' who had stood up with Maddie, and the two tumbled to the ground. "Haha, sorry Ma-," Alfred started to apologize, then looked to see who he's fallen on and jumped up. " Maddie, what the fuck is this commie-bastard doing here?" Maddie ran over and helped up her guest. "So sorry about him," she whispered to him, since he was trembling in fear from the name he had never heard of. The Canadian looked at her brother with fierce eyes. "Don't call him that, you don't know what you're saying." Alfred's jaw dropped." What?! Yes I do! That's Ivan, right? Though he is shorter...and he's wearing a swim suit...who the heck is this, Mad?" Madeline sighed. "Al, you really need to think before you act. This is Ivan...but from a parallel universe." His face seemed to reflect the shock that she's felt when hearing the same thing. "OMG, ARE YOU SERIOUS?!" He squealed enthusiastically. Realizing how girly he'd sounded, he paused his excitement to clear his throat. "So, is this what we're going to do? Are we taking him home or something?" Maddie smiled. "Yea, kind of. The countries of that universe wanted to know what we're like, so we are kind of going over there." Her brother's excitement exploded again. He yanked his phone out and started calling every country he knew that could come, and within the next hour, several of them showed up: Francis, Arthur, Vlad, the real Ivan, Antonio, Lovino, Feliciano, and Ludwig.

With so many people in her house, Maddie was overwhelmed. Not only was everyone talking at the top of their lungs, but several of her guests had tracker mud into her beautifully spotless living room. "Guess it's pointless to complain," she mumbled to herself. Little Ivan stood up unsteadily on the couch, trying desperately to call order to the group with his quiet voice. The real Ivan saw this and lumbered through the small crowd in the living room to his parallel. "I will help you, da?" The shorter man smiled slightly in appreciation, but something about his parallel self gave him an uncomfortable feeling. Ivan pulled his heavy coat around him and pulled out his pipe, then slammed it to the ground, creating the echoing sound of splintering wood in the room. Everyone went deathly silent.

"I-Ivan!" Madeline whined, her voice shaking in fear. The tall Russian turned towards the small girl. "Da? I was just trying to help little me gain the attention of your guests." Maddie stumbled to try and find words to not sound angry or upsetting the the stronger man, but instead she sat down and looked at Little Ivan, nodding for him to talk. Glancing cautiously up at his alter-ego, he began to speak. "Wow, um...thank you all for coming to visit my home. I greatly appreciate you helping us learn something new...um, in a f-few moments, I will use the machinery I was sent with to allow us to travel back to my universe. Hold your breath while you are in there, and do not fear if you black out, it is normal. Once we all arrive, i will direct the group to the meeting place we have set up..." Seeming to have finished, the Russian slid off the couch, and a few others began to whisper. "Are we going to die if we breath in the thingie?" Feliciano asked loudly, a bit of exasperation lingering in the question. Little Ivan shrugged in response. "I-I'm not sure, but I wouldn't risk trying."

After that, the small man turned around, pulling a small pyramid-shaped item from his pocket and setting it on an end table. On one side of the object was a large black button that covered nearly the entire face. On the face parallel to the button, there were five light placed in the shape of a pentagon, but none of them were on. This side was facing a blank wall. "Ok, ready everyone," he announced, then pressed the button. The lights glowed unnaturally bright, and they were multiple colors. The pentagon shape started so spin around on the pyramid face, the light beams focusing in a circle on the wall and moving at an unbelievably fast pace. Then suddenly, there was a flash of green and a vortex opened up. A powerful force started to pull all the people into it. Everyone held their breath. Maddie saw a brilliant flash of colors as she was sucked in, and within a few seconds she passed out.


	2. Secrets Are About

_So I've been busy reading this awesome story lately is why my stories are late. don't hate me! Hope this next chapter's good though! Enjoy!_

**I Do Not Own Hetalia**

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Silence seemed to echo around every corner. I could tell I was awake, but I couldn't bring myself to open my eyes because there was a pulsing headache in the front of my head. The ground felt rough. _We must be in a road or something, _I thought, closing my fingers around what felt like bits of gravel. Suddenly, I heard slow footsteps somewhere nearby. "Madeline?," came a voice. The footsteps grew quicker and closer. I opened my eyes carefully, squinting in the dull light, to see the faces of Alfred and Little Ivan looking down at me. "Hey, Mad, you ok?," Alfred asked quietly, stretching his hand out to me. I grabbed his hand, thankful for the help, and stood up, holding my head as it thumped painfully. "Yeah, I'm ok, Al. Thanks," I said, squeezing my eyes shut for a second to clear my blurred vision. "I'm glad you are safe," Little Ivan whispered, "but we need to start going. The dock is only a mile out of the city from here, luckily. Let's go."

We began walking at a slow pace against the sides of tall buildings. Now that I was able to see better, I could get a good look at the surroundings. It all looked like a Hollywood disaster movie: The entire area was deathly silent and broken. The roads were vacant of any signs of life and covered with dust, debris, and varying sizes of gray rocks and glass shards. The city buildings all around were crumbling in some form or way. Large holes were in the walls of some with electrical wires sticking out and sparking occasionally, and the rooftops of some were completely ripped off as if a large, hungry beast had traveled through. Nearly every window in sight was broken. There was little sunlight shining from the sky, which had clouds of gray hanging heavily in the air. A faint wind picked up every now and then, bringing with it the scent of rain. The whole scene looked just as artificial as a movie, yet a forboding feeling weighed on my shoulders. I tried to swallow the fear that was starting to rise in my throat. "U-um, what happened here?," I asked shakily. The two in front of me stopped for a breif second. "I suppose you're the only one i haven't explained this to yet, aren't you?," Little Ivan mumbled. "Ohmygod, Mads, this place is SOOO cool, you should have HEARD the AWESOMENESS this world is in!" Alfred yelled excitedly, then suddenly stopped and glanced around guiltily. Ivan's eyes were wide, glinting with a slight fear. "L-let's keep moving and I'll explain to you, Miss Madeline." The two males seemed to move at an even slower, more cautious pace now. This was especially unusual for Alfred. What could make him act this way?

"This all started a bit over a decade ago," Ivan began quietly. "We're not all completely sure of what caused it, but a pandemic of sorts began to spread all over the world, until every country was infected. In under a year, it had taken over the entire population of every country across the globe." They paused their slow progress momentarily for the small man to check quickly around the corner or the building. He darted across the rock-littered street, then squatted at the edge of another building protectivly and motioned for the two to follow. They copied his motions carefully, then they stood and started moving silently again. "It seems sort of impossible, but our situation is similar to a zombie apocalypse to your world," he concluded swiftly. "And," Alfred added joyfully," we might get to see one before we reach the others!" Ivan glared at the American and shushed him with a slight anger. "How about we try to get to the dock without running into any more of them?," he suggested, though the anger he was trying to convey was betrayed by the way he trembled with fear.

The rest of their journey was quiet and uneventful. They reached a dock where all the others from her world were waiting for their arrival. "About fucking time," Lovino grumbled. He stood up from where he had been sitting on Antonio's lap and walked up to the returning group, looking directly at Ivan with his blazing eyes. _Does his expression seem softer? _I wondered, looking over his features as he spoke with the short man. Then I shook my head, deciding against it. _Lovino doesn't care for anyone, I must be imagining it. _

Soon after this, we all boarded as small boat, though it was plenty enough room to fit all of us. Once we began inching along in the water, the atmosphere of the group seemed to lighten a bit. Feliciano was snuggled up to Ludwig, his boyfriend, who was looking off across the water with a slightly visible blush on his cheeks, fighting back a smile. Ivan sat more near his smaller self, who was steering the boat, uttering a low 'kolkolkol' sound. Lovino, Antonio, and Vlad sat towards the front of the boat. Antonio hugged the Italian boy to his chest with a cheeky grin on his face, while said Italian was trying to fight his way from the Spaniard's grip, his eyes blazing as always, but an equally blazing blush on his cheeks. Vlad sat across from the couple, laughing at Lovino's struggles with his pure white fangs glinting in the dull sunlight. Lovino was yelling at the man, but I didn't care to pay any attention. I sat on the left side of the boat, staring ahead, with Alfred to my right and Francis to my left. To Alfred's right, Arthur was sitting beside the American, and the two seemed to be in a silly yelling match over what kind of movies were better. From what I could follow, Alfred believed horror and hero movies were better, while Arthur thought movies that "let your imagination run" were better. They were so funny sometimes. My head was still pulsing a bit, so i lifted my hand up to try and lessen the pain it brought, closing my eyes and leaning forward. As I did this, I felt a familiar pair of arms wrap around me and pull me into a comforting hug. I smiled and leaned into the hug, looking up at Francis. "Are you ok, mon cheri?," The blonde haired man asked. I nodded, closing my eyes again and laying my head on his chest. "I'm just a little stressed, Papa. Don't worry about me." My headache was starting to disappear as I began to sink into sleep. I felt a barely noticeable pressure through the fog of sleep as he kissed my head. "I will always care, Madeline..." I remember him whispering. He had something else after that, but I was too far into the peaceful darkness of sleep to hear him.

I was stirred from my sleep by a shift in the motion of the boat. I opened my eyes a crack, and noticed we had stopped at a dock. Compared to the dock we had left from, this one looked steadier. The wood looked almost new, and sand surrounded it. "We're here," Ivan announced to the group. Several people jumped up from their spots, complaining of being cramped up for too long, while a few other were stirring from sleep like me. I just closed my eyes again. I didn't want to go meet people from this parallel world, I just wanted to go back to sleep. However, against my will, an arms slid under my legs and I was lifted up from the boat. I squeaked, my eyes shooting open. "I-I can get up on my own, you know!" I yelped, my face starting to heat up. Those bright blue eyes seemed to be in a different place, but he smirked at me. "But you didn't," Francis defended himself. I squished my eyes shut and covered my face with my hands. "W-well, I can walk, so p-please put me down." Apparently this worked, and I was set carefully down on the soft earth. Removing my hands from my face, I half smiled at him thankfully, again feeling my face heat up.

The area around us was completely opposite from the land we had left when first arriving. This place was a small island with gentle waves lapping at sandy shores, and fresh, bright, green grass in every other spot inland. Not too far away, there was a giant mansion. And when I say giant, I mean giant. It appeared to be between five or six stories high, and stretched out to the length of about eight full-length buses. The color of it was a natural brown: most likely made from the wood of beautifully kept trees. There didn't seem to be as many windows as there should be rooms in the house, but there was still a decent amount of light streaming from the glass, shining brighter than the sunlight outside, through multiple colors thin curtains or colored glass. All around this great mansion there was life blooming everywhere. Everything from Lillies to Apple trees seemed to be growing there. It painted a rainbow trail of frail beauty as the new-coming group walked carefully after the small native Russian who, as far as they knew, had lived here for quite a while. I wasn't sure who could possibly tend after so many sorts of plant life, but it was all breath-taking. The ones that caught my eye as we walked towards the door were the Roses: all around the edges of the house were thick bushes of dark red roses, and they were the only plant that close to the house. They seemed to be hugging the wood of the enormous abode, saying, 'this is mine, this is where I belong'.

Once Little Ivan reached the door, he stopped dead in his tracks and looked at the ground for a moment, as if thinking. We all grouped around him on the large porch, not comfortable with entering without permission. That is except for Lovino. He grabbed the doorknob and was about to yank it open, but was stopped by Ivan before he could. The tall Ivan, our Ivan. He grabbed the Italian's arm not reaching for the door and twisted it behind his back. "Ouch! Fuck you, let me go!," growled, releasing the door handle and turning around to somewhat adjust the angle his arm was at. The tall man just smile. "You need to be waiting," he advised. "Little me has something to say to us, if you can not tell." Then he released the younger man's arm, allowing him to fall back into Antonio, which in turn sent them both tumbling to the floor. Little Ivan looked up at the scene a little shaky. "Um, t-thank you."

He looked at his parallel self, then up at us. I could tell this had to be said, for his eyes seemed to be serious as he turned to look at the whole group. "There are two things you all must know," he explained. "Firstly, those in my world were former rulers of the countries that once stood. We prefer to be addressed by such titles to all those we associate with. You will refer to me as Russia from now on. Occasionally, a human name will be used in an affectionate way..." he shivered slightly, but became serious once more.

Then, he looked around, looking us all straight in the eye for a second. But he stopped on he. His eyes were as cold as ice, as if he were glaring at me in a rage that the Ivan I knew would do. I felt like shrinking under this gaze, but it would do me no good. I stood where I was, keeping our eyes locked, knowing he didn't mean to scare me. Though I felt he was trying to tell me something personally, and I tried to not shake. "Secondly," he said, after what felt like an eternity, "and most importantly," he added," do not snoop in anyone's business here." Something about his gaze made me feel like he meant the exact opposite. However, what he said next made me fear for my life.

"This mansion holds dark secrets. Try to understand anyone's personal life that lives here and it could be the death of you."

With that he broke our gaze, turned around and motioned for us to follow him inside...

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_Woohoo, starting to get good? Hopefully everyone liked this and you'll keep reading!_


	3. An Incident

_The only time I took a break from typing today was to go to the movies. I really want to get into the good parts of my story. Enjoy!~_

**I Do Not Own Hetalia**

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Everyone had followed Russia into the unfamiliar house after he had given us the 'rules'. I was still a bit unsure of whether he wanted us to really follow the last rule. A shiver ran down my back as I thought of how intense his eyes had been. They had almost been begging silently for help...or was I just imagining? I shook my head, clearing the worrysome thoughts from my mind. _I'll deal with it later, _ I decided. Our little group now stood in a large, nearly empty room. The walls of the lobby were pure white, dotted evenly with silver candle-holders along the flat surfaces: four to each wall, lined symmetrically. There was an occasional portrait or two hanging from the walls above several of the silver containers. The one corner of the room to the right, there was a small table that had been painted black, and was surrounded by four chairs of the same color. In the center of this table was a basket overflowing with lavenders. I could smell the dull scent from where I stood. The only other thing in sight was a wide staircase that led up to the second floor, where the railing could be curving off to different parts of the the top of the staircase was an almost equally wide set of dark wood doors, and two figures sat in front of them.

"Dang it!," Yelled one of them. "You always win, I don't want to play anymore!" A handful of red-and-white cards was sent fluttering down the sleek stairs. "I'm sorry," said the other. "I won by chance, nothing more. I'm usually not very good at this game anyways." The first who had spoken glanced down the stairwell, and his eyes immediately lit up. "Ivan!" He leapt down the steps, nearly tripping onto his face, but made it down in the blink of an eye, tackling the short Russian to the ground.

Russia smiled, his eyes lighting us as he hugged him for a breif second, then stood up, clearing his throat awkwardly. "This is my friend America," he introduced. Now that he was closer, I could tell that this man was definately Alfred's parallel: bright blue eyes, blonde hair with an odd cowlick sticking up from it. Though his attitude didn't seem much different from what I'd seen so far. The newly introduced blonde waved a bit shyly at the group, moving a bit closer to Russia. "Hello everyone, nice to see you all..." he trailed off, then looked at Russia with wide eyes. "Are you alright? You're not hurt are you?" He questioned his friend, then hugged his arm. "I don't know what I'd do if you got hurt! I'm not a hero or anything, I wouldn't be able to help..."

And there was the difference.

And Al noticed it the split second after me.

"NOT A HERO?!" He exclaimed so loud, it echoed harshly off the walls of the empty room. "How could you say that about yourself?!" America had winced from the sudden outburst, then turned to the one who had yelled, his eyes widening in glee yet again. He glanced at Russia for a moment, who nodded in response to some unsaid quetion, before the blonde darted from his said to face his parallel. He was a bit shorter than Al, and his hair was a noticeable shade darker, too. Apart from that, the only other visible difference was their clothes: Al always wore his bomber jacket, but America wasn't wearing anything more than a simple dark-blue tanktop and a pair of black shorts. The two started up a small, simple conversation of likes and dislikes to compare themselves.

"Well don't leave me out," came a voice. I looked to where it had come from; the voice came from the other man at the top of the stairs who had been with America. His hand was smushed into his cheek as he leaned on his elbows against the railing, but the face was all too familiar to forget, and my heart fluttered a bit: Gilbert. What appeared to be his parallel glanced at me and noticed me looking, and he smiled slightly, standing up and walking down the stairs to me.

I was unprepared for this. The last time I had seen Prussia was when he'd come over for no absolute reason last winter, stood in my doorway, and kissed me before running off. I hadn't seen him ever since, and the memory sent a blush to my cheeks as this man stood in front of me. His hair was a dark gray instead of white like Gilbert's, but his eyes were still red, just lighter. He was wearing a formal suit, however, which was obvious to me that this wasn't the same person I knew. He was also a bit shorter than me. Sticking a hand out to me, he smiled a bit awkwardly. "My name's Prussia," he introduced. "...Nice to meet you..." These words seemed a bit unsure. In his glinting eyes, I could tell he was being very careful in the way he acted. I wasn't sure why, but I wasn't going to ask. I stuck my hand out to mee his in a friendly hand shake. "And my name's Madeline," I introduced. We stood in silence for a moment before I realized we were still shaking hands. I quickly withdrew my arm, folding both behind my back and looking at the ground. I could feel my face flushing again. "I'm s-sorry," I stuttered, then looked back up at him. _Merci, this is too awkward. _ Prussia's eyes seemed somewhere far off, yet still focused, and starting right at me. _Ok, this is way awkward! _

"Um...E-excuse me?" I asked waving my hand cautiuosly in front of his face. This seemed to do the trick and he blinked his eyes rapidly, focusing again. "I'm so sorry," the formal man apologized. "You're just...you look too much alike..."

Before I could ask anything further, my focus was interupted by the sound of Alfred yelling from a cross the room again. "Yea, let's explore!" He exclaimed joyfully, jumping around, hand-in-hand with his new best-friend-parallel-self. America glanced across the room at Russia, who had been in some conversation with Ivan and Vlad previous to the outburst. He nodded, again answering an unspoken question. American darted up the stairs with bright eyes, Alfred right on his heels. "WOOHOO, ADVENTURE!" Al yelled, as they ran to the right side of the curving second floor and disappeard. Arthur furrowed his brows and ran as quickly, yet carefully, up the stairs as he could. "Wait up, you bloody wanker!" Then he disappeared as well. " Ve~! Can we go exploring too, Doitsu?" Feliciano looked up at the tall, stoic man he had referred to. Ludwig rolled his eyes breifly and sighed. "Ja, we can," he replied. "Yay~!" The Italian ran up the stairs in the same direction the others had gone in, with Ludwig following slowly after. Then they disappeared as well.

Before I could turn around to continue speaking with Prussia, I heard my name called. "Miss Madeline, Prussia, come over here please," Russia called to us. I did so, Prussia following slightly behind me with his dress shoes being the new sound to echo through the room. It was much quieter now that a part of our group had gone off to other parts of the large house, and it seemed a bit more peaceful from such occurance. I stopped once I was at the foot of the staircase beside the remaining amount of the group: Antonio allowing Lovino to lean on him lazily, Vlad sitting balanced on the railing of the staircase with his legs crossed, Francis sitting on the bottom step of the smooth wood of the stairs, and Russia, who had his arms behind his back looking shyly around at the people in front of him. "Are we going to take our guests into the kitchen?" Prussia asked his companion. Russia nodded, looking up with wide eyes. "Yes," he replied, "That would be a great idea. I'm starting to feel a bit claustrophobic anyways..."

With this, Prussia ushered us politely up the stairs and through the large pair of dark wood doors awaiting at the top. Once I stepped in, I felt a lot less awkward and a bit more in awe. The kitchen was huge. To the left of the room was a dark brown wooden table that stretched nearly all the way across the room, from the wall I was near to the wall parallel. Along the sides were many chairs of the same sleek wood, spaced apart varyingly: some were right beside another, while some were a decent armslength apart. In what I assumed was the center, there was a basket filled with vibrant flowers and wrapped into bundles with dark blue ribbon.

The center of the room was clear all the way across, except for a long, dark-red-and-gold rug that stretched from one door to the other, which, the single door across the room was smaller and made of white wood, with a shiny gold doorknob sticking out in contrast. A silver chandeleer shone light from hundreds of small lightbulbs around the room.

Then to the right of the room, extending from the back right corner to nearby the edge of the white door was the kitchen part. Several light sources shone different shades and intensities of light as two figures in white chef's hats and aprons walked around preparing food carefully. The cabinets and drawers were made of the same shiny dark brown wood everything else appeared to be made out of, and the appliances were all black. The walls all around the room were a dull red. I could smell all kinds of spiced in the air, and see steam rising up from a hot pan on the stove. "Hey, guys, what's for dinner?" Russia asked the two in a friendly tone, walking over to a counter to the right that had several stools set in fron of it. Francis and Vlad followed, each taking a seat in one of the red-fabric-topped chairs. One of the figures turned around and smiled. "Hey, Russia! We're just making a few simple pizzas tonight. We figured you'd be back by today with the visitors and wanted to make somehting easy." He removed his hat, revealing more clearly his features; he had short black hair and hazelish-green eyes, but his face looked exactly like Lovino's. From beside me, I saw Lovino move straight towards the man, then stopped in from of him and looked him over in silence for a moment. I could now see that the Lovino was a bit shorter than his parallel self. With narrowed eyes, he looked the man straight in the face. "What's your name?" He asked, restraining a growl from his words. The one referred to looked a bit taken aback by the sudden intrusion of space, but stood smiling cautiously, and replied, "Y-you can call me Romano." Lovino stepped back, his eyes blazing normally again. "Romano? What kind of country name is that?" Romano smiled sheepishly and put his hand behind his head nervously. "Uh, well it's not a country name obviously...ya see-"

"His brother has the country name." It wasn't Romano who had replied, and I realized that it had been the other man in the kitchen. He hadn't looked up from seasoning the pizza as he had spoken, and his face was covered by a shadow his hat cast over it. "Did I ask you, bastard? I don't think so," Lovino growled at the man. The man looked up suddenly and slammed his fists onto the countertop, causing a clang of silverware as they jumped from the movement. "I could easily poison your food, you little fucker," snarled the man, clenching his fists. "Take it back." I glanced over at Antonio, who was standing to my right. He had a worried look in his bright green eyes, and he hastily made his way up behind Lovino, setting his hands carefully on his shoulders. Since I was the only other standing by the door now, since Prussia had evacuated the kitchen moments before, I walked over and took a seat on a stool awkwardly. "Lovi, I-I think you should just drop it," Antonio advised cautiously. The Italian didn't seem to hear him though, leaning forward, out of Antonio's grip, and across the counter closer to his enemy. "As if you'd actually do it," he remarked, grinning cockily as if he's won the argument. In a flash, the man across the counter tossed his hat off his head, looking up with eyes of firey rage at Lovino, and darting his fist out to yank him forward by his shirt. "Wanna bet?"

Lovino's eyes were wide in fear now, his torso drawn awkwardly across the counter as he leaned forward, so as not to be choked. The face we now saw was all too familiar, yet different: all his facial features were that of Antonio, but this man's hair was black, and his fierce eyes were dark green, with specks of black. Lovino gulped loudly, not moving his an inch. Russia jumped up, eyes wide, and placed his hands on the man's outstretched arm. "Spain, come on, ket's not do this now...please?" Everyone stood frozen in place for a moment. Then, Spain glanced at Russia, then looked back at Lovino, releasing his grip. "Watch yourself, kid," he growled, picking his hat up from the floor. That was the last thing he said for the rest of the time.

After that, everything was decently quiet. Me, Russia, and Romano had started up a small, basic conversation over foods, while everyone else sat in an awkwardly tense silence, aside from the occasional sizzle or pop coming from the stove. "Some foods are better cold," Romano was saying, "but some are better fresh and warm...like pizza!" I nodded to this statement. "Finally, someone else who agrees," I said, smiling. "Cold pizza is just a bit unnatural," Russia concluded, half to himslef. "I agree completely!" Antonio chimed in from his seat at the table acoss the room. "Yea, it's much better fresh," Romano added cheerily. "Most things that aren't fresh just tas-"

"Hey, Roma, mind helping me with this?," came a voice. Everyone looked in the direction it had come from, which was from the white door on the other end of the room. It wasn't too far away and I could see the new person clearly...and started to wish I couldnt. He had stopped in the doorway after realizing there was other people there, his eyes showing his confusion. He had dark brown hair that almost went down to his shoulders and bright red eyes. His wrists were thickly covered in dark red liquid, which appeared to obviously be blood, and it was splashed onto his cheeks as well. The color of his clothing was almost undestinguishable because blood was splattered all over it as well, though his dark blue jeans only had a small amount on them. "...Whoops, sorry...didn't know they were back yet." Romano had already untied his apron and set his hat on the counter, and ran over to the man standing in the doorway worriedly. The white wood of the enterance now had a few splashed of red on it as the new-comer leaned against it to hold it open. "I'll be right back," Romano said to no one in particular, leaving the room with the bloodied man. I heard Russia whisper something from where he sat to my left, but was too shocked to pay attention. "The fuck was that?!" Vlad exclaimed. "Was that me?!" I hadn't been able to pay much attention to the man's face due to all the blood, so i wasn't sure how to respond to him. "I believe it was, mon ami," Francis answered.

Again, silence filled the room. No one said a word, especially Russia, who seemed to distressed to speak, his eyes wide as he looked down at his lap, his expression seeming a bit guilty for some reason. After a while, the white door squeaked open again and Romano entered with someone following him. He had the same hair and bright eyes as the man who had caused everyone shock, but now he was clean. His pale skin was seemingly spotless and he wore different clothes: a plain white t-shirt and a lighter pair of blue jeans. On each of his wrists was a thick, fuzzy, red wristband. He walked in and sat down in a chair near the end of the long dining table, his face showing no unusual emotions, except for curiosity of the people around him. "Dinner's ready!~" Romano announced joyfully, walking out of the kitchen again with a large pizza pan in each of his hands. Spain walked to the opposite side of the kitchen and rang a bell, letting the jingling sound echo through the room. Several people entered through the doors on either side of the room and took a seat at the table, and everyone else in the room walked over to the table as well. Russia and i were the only ones still seated at the counter and a shook him gently. "Um...A-are you hungry?" I asked, feeling a bit insensitive. The short man looked up at me, his eyes seeming to focus on reality again. He smiled half-heartedly. "Yea, a bit I guess." He stood up from his chair, and I did the same. _He's acting a bit strange since that guy walked in covered in blood, _ I thought. _I wonder if he's ok? _I was prepared to ask Russia what was the matter, if anything was wrong, but he turned around and faced me with an uncharacteristically sad expression on his face.

"Don't ask yet, miss Madeline," he told me, his eyes glinting pleadingly. "Not now..."


End file.
